The Ice World Cup 2001 will kick off this year in Pitztal on 12 January and finish, three months later, in Kirov, Russia.

The second ever World Cup circuit is composed of 5 stages: the first event will be held in Austria Pitztal for the traditional competition on 12-14/01/200).

The next event will be held one week later in Italy's Val Daone (18-21/01/2001) in conjunction with the ice climbing meet, before moving indoor to Saas-Fee, Switzerland (26-28/01/2001).

The penultimate stage in Cahmonix, France will take place at the beginning of February (02-03/02/2001) while the final event, like last year, will be held in Kirov, Russia (09-11/03/2001).

Two of the stages, Chamonix and Val Daone, take on the formula of an ice-boulder competition (similar to last year's event in Cortina), while Saas Fee tests the competitors mixed ice ability. The remaining three are classic Difficulty events.

The first edition of the Ice World Cup was won by the Canadian Will Gadd, ahead of the Frenchman François Lombard and Daniel Dulac second and third respectively. The women's event was won last year bu the American Kim Csizmazia, ahead of the Hungarian Ildi Kiss, second, and the Russian Irina Ryzhenkova, third.